Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapters
01 - The Candidate
02 - The Staff

Introduction

Political campaigns are expensive, time consuming and difficult. Often the political parties will nominate candidates that have virtually no chance of winning to run against safe incumbents. These candidates are known as political human sacrifices; they often find a general lack of party support and usually have difficulties raising funds by traditional means. The McCain-Feingold “Campaign Finance Reform” law is better known in political circles as the “No incumbent left behind” act and has made a campaign against an entrenched incumbent futile.

Often people are willing to run as a hopeless candidate for the benefits that nominees receive. These can include state and national party membership, seats on choice committees, VIP receptions and the respect of local and county party officials. If the candidates can get a few votes over “registration” in the general election they may nominate others to full membership in the state and or national party. These are all good reasons to run for office without waging a political campaign or spending much money.

If however, you are a candidate that believes you can beat the odds and win the election if you could just get a little help, this book was written for you. I have seen many good men and women that were not prepared for political life and allowed it to change them. You will encounter pettiness, corruption, zealots, con-artists and liars (and that’s just at the county registrars’ office).

I wrote this handbook to save you hundreds of dollars and thousands of hours trying to compile basic information you need to run a successful campaign. This handbook will help you find good staffers, raise money, open an office, gain name recognition, get media coverage, get out the vote, train volunteers, comply with campaign finance laws, keep your sanity and manage a first rate campaign. Most of it has been written from personal experience I gained the hard way, but it also contains good advice passed down from some of the best minds of political science as well as successful politicians and campaign managers. The book covers most aspects of a political campaign and will answer many questions you were too embarrassed to ask.

The first and most important step to running a successful campaign is researching and planning out every detail ahead of time. Learn everything you can about each step in the political process and use your time wisely. For every failed campaign there is a candidate that wishes they had just a little more time to campaign. Time is an un-renewable resource.

For your best chance of winning a general election, you should create and use a five year plan; it takes at least three years to make the Republican Party contacts needed to successfully run for office. These contacts will help you win the primary, raise money and increase your name recognition.

Things to do in this five-year period

1. You and your spouse should attend every Republican event or function.
2. Volunteer for a political campaign or ballot initiative.
3. Spend a few hours a week helping out at your local party headquarters.
4. Start or join a local Republican club.
5. Attend meetings of interest groups you agree with.
6. Make money, pay off your debts and save money.
7. Learn all you can about local politics and politicians.
8. Subscribe to and read your districts newspapers.
9. Volunteer for the police “ride along” program.
10. Learn to use bloggs and increase your computer skills.
11. Make friends and gather contacts in the Party.

It is always a good idea to seek help and advice from an experienced consultant with good contacts. However, make sure to ask for references of other candidates the consultant has worked for in the last ten years. It may sound strange, but it doesn’t matter how many winning campaigns the consultant worked on, as long as they all exceeded Republican registration in the district. This can be determined by comparing the percentage of registered Republican voters against the percentage of votes cast for the candidate on Election Day. Even if the candidate won, if the percentage of votes falls below the GOP registration percentage, the consultant isn’t worth hiring.

Paid campaign consultants must be able to raise and/or save you at least 4 times their salary to be effective; a campaign consultant should ease your financial burden, not increase it. Ask them exactly what services can they provide, what methods of fundraising they use and how much is it going to cost. You may want a trusted friend or member of the Party sit in on the interviews and ask a few questions of their own.

Another important factor in choosing a consultant is likeability. You will have to deal with this person at least until Election Day; make sure you can get along with them or find someone else. Call a few of your State party contacts and ask their opinion about potential consultants as well as the consultant’s references. If you call ten trusted contacts and more than one of them have negative things to say about a consultant, find a different consultant.

Chapter descriptions

A proper political campaign will take at least a year from your declaration of candidacy to election night. During this time you and your loved ones will have to make many adjustments you may not have considered.

Chapter 1, “The Candidate” will give you the tools you need to cope with political life, sharpen your communication skills and teach you how to dress and behave properly.

Chapter 2 outlines staff positions and responsibilities. It’s important to find the best staffers you can for each position, but someone is always better than no one. This book will give you a comprehensive description of each staff position and what they are responsible for. It also has tips of the trade for each job as well as managing volunteers and conducting staff meetings.

In Chapter 3 you will learn to organize volunteers into crews that will answer phones, call voters, deliver yard signs, raise money, walk precincts, create ads, book appointments and do hundreds of important tasks to help you get elected. It will also help you keep crew morale high and get the best from each crewmember. Volunteers do most of the work on a campaign and should be rewarded.

To run a successful campaign you will need help from the party. If you are already a card carrying member, this task will be easy; for everyone else, you should read Chapter 4. Many party members insist that a candidate also be a member of the state and county party to receive an endorsement. You will learn how to contact and socialize with local party officials and receive their endorsement and support.

Chapter 5 is all about the office: It will teach you how to get one cheap, what you will need to run a campaign office and how to furnish it on a tight budget. This will also include telephone room, networking and software suggestions. Your HQ will be an important tool in your campaign; this chapter will help you make wise decisions and plan the office that best serves your needs.

Chapter 6 deals with electronic media including websites, media alerts, communications and other tech related issues. For most of these suggestions, you will need a competent webmaster that can complete tasks in a timely manner (good luck with that). The home computer and the internet have changed politics forever; you must know how to use technology and how it can help in your campaign.

The key to a successful campaign is fundraising. Chapter 7 covers the basics of the fundraising laws and several fundraising ideas. You will find that fundraising for your campaign is best left to someone that can devote all of their time to the task. Finding an experienced campaign treasurer may be difficult, so the chapter also weighs the pros and cons of hiring a fundraising firm.

In Chapter 8, “Pressing the Flesh” you will learn about precincts, the church circuit, public appearances and time management. The chapter will also cover a basic public appearance kit, the role of staff and volunteers in public as well as security. Public speaking and walking precincts are still the most effective campaigning tools.

Getting your message out and getting your supporters to the polls is easy, it just takes more money than you have. In Chapter 9, we will examine the harder, cheaper way; campaigning. This includes distributing absentee ballots, attending “meet and greets”, photo ops, arranging luncheons, Distributing fliers, posting signs and arranging and more.

In chapter 10 I have outlined methods to deal with the news media. They cannot be trusted, but they are a necessary evil every successful campaign must endure. You will learn how to identify friendly media and how to convey your message into sound bites.

If you are serious about winning an election, you will need a plan. In Chapter 11 “Campaign in motion” you will learn the importance of planning ahead and making proactive decisions early in the campaign. Chapter 11 will also give you important tips and tactics to help you win.